(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules revoke the Magistrates' Courts (Sex Offender and Anti-social Behaviour Orders) Rules 1998 and replace the part of those Rules relating to sex offender orders. They prescribe the procedure to be followed for applications for sex offender orders and interim sex offender orders, and for discharge and variation of such orders. The provisions on interim sex offender orders are new, and result from an amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 made by section 68 of the Police Reform Act 2002.